frustration with their attitude about the american people. my friend says that 30% of the american people are taker rom is andney -- takers and romney points out 47%, he is talking about my mother and father. he is talking about the people that built this country. all they are looking for is an even shot. levelve done it when you the playing field and they want peace of mind. the president and die on not going arrest until that playing field is level. -- to rest until the playing field is level. until they can turn to their kids and say, it is going to be ok. that is what this is all about. >> congressman ryan. >> i want to thank you as well, martha. i want to thank you, joe.

it has been an honor. we face a big choice. what kind of country are we going to be? what kind of country are we going to give our kids? president obama had his chance and made his choices. his economic agenda, spending, borrowing, higher taxes, a government takeover of health care, it is not working. millions of americans are struggling to work and 15% are in poverty. this is not what a real recovery looks like. you deserve better. we want to earn your support. we are offering real reforms for every american. mitt romney, his experience, ideas, and solutions are uniquely qualified to get this job done. at a time we have a jobs crisis,

wouldn't it be nice to have a jobs creator in the white house? a stagnant economy that promotes more government dependency, or a dynamic that promotes opportunity and jobs. mitt romney and i will not duck the tough issues are blame others for the next four years. we will take responsibility and we will not try to replace our founding principles. we will reapply our founding principles. the choice is clear, and the choice rests with you. >> thank you both again. this concludes the vice- presidential debate. please tune in next tuesday for the second presidential debate in new york. i'm martha rattis of abc news. i hope all of you go to the polls. have a good evening. [applause]

>> what do you think? and did that change the game? of going into the contest, the word from the republicans was that he has to do something to change the momentum. this could be a slide for romney into it. the other side had a different thing to say, and who made the argument that is more belvable across america?

carl cameron has been listening from the spin room tonight. people said the democrats have to get on track after what happened last week. do you see a game changer? >> we saw a very feisty joe biden and a debate that was filled with interruptions and a tremendous amount of passion. he cannot to try to reenergize the democratic base in the wake of the president's lackluster performance a week ago and he was clearly on offense. but it was mixed with an awful lot of his smirking, expressions of exasperation and a lot of interruptions. that will get a lot of criticism and review in the next couple of days. and how one behaves can overshadow what what actually says. in the case of paul ryan, he was rying to give detailed isss and show his command of the issues. mr. ryan's answer is, as

comprehensive as he was allowed to be, not a game changer but joe biden was on offense. a >> i remember him saying that nothing he just said was true. this is something the democrats have been clamoring for since last week. >> huffing and puffing suggesting that he was obfuscating and not able to proposals.romney's and are the details that are consistent with the facts. spinning has already begun. the campaign manager making the argument that mr. ryan was unable to explain the details and defend them among the various proposals. senior adviser to the romney campagin in that joe biden was not able to defend the president's record. both sides making their cases aggressively, and no clear knockdown, but some very tough uppercuts.

>> and that leaves us for a week from matter at the university that could be a game changer. >> absolutely. >> a quick commercial break and we'll come back for a little more analysis

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shh's no, no, no, no, no, no.. rosco! ..no, no, no...no ♪ opera love it. (crying) ally, ally oh, same dress. yea, you want to get up off the floor? i do. okay. vo: from the new to the hard-to-find: when it's on your mind it's on ebay™. >> historically speaking, vice- presidential candidates are there to be attack dogs. and historically speaking, vice presidential debates don't usually sway the election much at all. tonight, you will decide and we will see you next week for the presidential debate.

continuing coverage on your late local news on this fox station, analysis continues on fox news channel on cable and satellite, fox news radio and fox news got comp. i will see you tomorrow. ♪ [ male announcer ] the first look...is only the beginning. ♪ ♪ introducing a stunning work of technology. ♪ introducing the entirely new lexus es. and the first ever es hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. this is fox 5 news at

10:00. tonight the vice presidential candidates duking it out in a fiery debate over the issues that mattered the most. fox 5 has all the highlights, instant analysis plus reaction from a panel of voters live tonight in our studio. but first the crowd roaring during a dramatic finish in nationals park. one swing of the the bajas kept the nats' playoff -- the bajas kept the nats' playoff run -- of the bats has kept the nats' playoff run alive. >> fox 5 sports director scott smith? for our coverage tonight. what a game. >> you got to love playoff baseball. moments like tonight get seared into your minds forever, a special treat for folks at nats park, fair to say the biggest hit in team history. must win game four jayson werth at the plate, bottom of the 9th tied at 1-1 climbing out of an 0-2 count, the 13th pitch of

the at bat, walk them off. werth delivers a solo shot heard run on the dmv. the nats even the series and storm the field, the sellout crowd going nuts, the hero leaping into the crowd waiting for them at home plate, 2-1 the final, lindsay murphy with more from nats park. >> reporter: scott, two years agent nationals signed jayson werth to a seven year $126 million contract to bring attitude and playoff experience to this ballclub and tonight boy, did that pay off as he hit a game winning walkoff home run in the 9th to force a deciding game five tomorrow night. >> no that's right now you lose or how much you lose -- no matter how you lose or how much you lose by, we start at 0-0 every day. >> that's the way that game should have ended, jayson werth hitting a home run. he hadn't hit that many this year, but that was -- what was it, 13, 14 pitch at bat,

something like that? that was great effort on his part. >> for him to kind of go through what he went through last year after coming over and obviously signed the big deal and people kind of being negative about him, for him to finally get this moment, the guys in this clubhouse can't tell you how much he means to this team, but obviously the fans can't really see that all the time, so they don't really value him as much as we, do but they should now. >> reporter: and jayson werth did prove his worth tonight. tomorrow is game five, a win or go home affair. gio gonzalez gets the start for the nats. lindsay murphy, fox 5 sports. >> going to be a late start tomorrow, 8:37. lost in all this, the performance of ross detwiler pitching six innings, allowed one run. that was stellar. >> also the fans stellar staying the whole game i know. fox 5's paul wagner talked to them. >> reporter: you're a baseball fan and it's the moment you live for, the walkoff home run, jayson werth knocked it out of the park. nats win. n. >> how about them nats?

natitude! >> reporter: what did you do when he hit that? >> i did what everybody else did. we were jumping out of the stands. >> it's all right. do you remember last night, game four? don't worry, we're coming back. >> reporter: what did you do when he hit that? >> i went crazy. it was astonishing. i love it when there's walkoffs. unbelievable. >> reporter: you still have to win one more against the world champion. see you tomorrow. >> he had a great at bit, didn't he? that was the whole cue, kind of pitch he likes and i almost knocked him over we were jumping up and down. so it was a lot of fun. >> natitude, baby! >> love them. they did great. >> you're amazing! >> tomorrow. >> the first win in nats stadium in the playoffs, one more! >> i couldn't believe it. he called it.

>> yeah! >> yea! >> werth, it was unbelievable, 13 pitches up to the sky. i was in shock. every day, baby, this is it, the world series. washington is for the world series, baby. >> it's the stuff of legends. that's what history -- i mean the great at bats in history. >> reporter: there wasn't an empty seat in the park. everybody was standing. people were waving their towels when werth hit that home run, but it's not over yet. there's one more game to go. the nats can only advance if they beat the cardinals tomorrow. at nats park, paul wagner, fox 5 news. a heart warming story at the ballpark. the nationals teamed up with the army to reunite a military family at the game. sergeant hector banda has been in afghanistan the last five months, his family stationed in germany. the army flue the family to d.c. for the game. they had no idea dad was showing up. >> i was just shocked.

i was just happy to see that. the kinder really surprised. >> i'm very thank -- the kids were really surprised. >> i'm very thankful for them, the nationals and the army letting me come over here and be part of this. it's very exciting. >> sergeant bandis says he'll spend the next two weeks sight seeing with his family in d.c. and new york city. a wide range of more thans out there at nats park today. >> certainly. now the winner of the next series moves on to face the san francisco giants who have an unbelievable comeback story of their own. >> be a nice coast to coast series for sure. let's take a look at the weather. sue palka was actually at the game tonight, came in sort of incognito with her hat, but what a game. >> took me an hour to inflate my hair from the hat head that i. had it was a fantastic game. if you're -- that i had. it was a fantastic game. if you're going tomorrow night, take your hoodie and layer up with an extra jacket and have your underlying t-shirt. go ryan zimmerman and jayson

werth and pack your natitude. it was a blast out there today. let me show you the forecast tomorrow. 8:37 is the game. it will be a coal one, but the true nats fan -- cold one, but the true nats fans won't mind the temperature, probably 51 degrees for the first pitch. it will be the cold he is night of the season so far -- coldest night of the season so far and by the time wraps up we'll probably be 47 degrees. i'm sure you can deal with it. just keep that winning natitude. yes, go nats. i'm going to see if i can get a ticket for tomorrow night, too. >> it's going to feel like october baseball. what are we looking for tomorrow night? >> i think the advantage probably nats at this point. the momentum got gio gonzalez on the hill coming back for the second time in this series, a 20 game winner. i got to think advantage nats in game five. >> scott smith, thanks. over to you, will. now the race for the white house, the pressure is on tonight on the running mates. vice president joe biden and his republican rival wisconsin representative paul ryan.

they faced off in the one and only vice presidential debate. tonight we're here in studio b getting some instant reaction from young people. you're our future, after all. they are politically minded students from american university studying politics. we'll hear from some of them and some of the very strong opinions in just a moment, but first let's begin our coverage with fox 5's tom fitzgerald who is standing by in the newsroom. >> good evening, will. this was a much more fiery debate than we saw out of the presidential candidates previously. the vice president tonight quickly jumping on the offensive and we'll start here with libya. the congressman ryan starting out by saying the obama administration's failure to protect the u.s. consulate followed by conflicting story on the caufailure of this administration, a charge vice president biden quickly dismissed. >> it makes us more weak. it projects weakness and when we look weak, our adversaries are much more willing to test

us, more brazen in their attacks. >> with all due respect that's a bunch of marlakey because not a single thing he said is inaccurate. >> you hear that tone and that will continue into this next segment, unemployment. these candidates differ dramatically on this new unemployment rate of 7.8%. that is a drop of the last four months, but biden also brought mitt romney's 47% remarks and in response ryan argued that this overall economy still is not growing. >> i've had it up to here with that notion that 47% -- it's about time they take some responsibility here and instead of signing pledges to grover norquist not to ask the wealthiest among us to contribute to bring back the middle class, they should be signing a pledge saying to the middle class we're going to level the playing field. >> we're going in the wrong direction. look at where we are. the economy is barely limping

along. it's growing at 1.3%. last slower than last year and last year was slower than the year before. >> that sparring continued on the recession. biden blaming the recession on republicans for creating it under the bush administration. ryan countered by saying the obama administration's spending has only made it worse. >> they talk about this great recession as it fell out of the sky like oh, my goodness, where did it come from? it came from this man voting to put two wars on a credit card. >> was it a good idea to spend taxpayer dollars on luxury cars in finland or on windmills in china? was it a good idea to borrow all this money from countries like china and spend it on all these various different interest groups. >> joining us now, fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin. we'll get right to it. who won this? >> i said that it was romney last week. i felt the clear winner was definitely biden. everything they said that

barack obama did wrong biden tried to make up for it. you're not going to hear anybody say that he was listless, that he was lethargic, that he lacked passion. he came on strong. came on from the start. his only weak answer was the one you pointed out where he never answered the question was there an intelligence failure, but as evening went on, i thought he got much stronger. didn't like the sort of smiling inappropriately which i think set people off, but in terms of substance, in terms of zeal, biden energized the base and he stopped maybe the conversation like whatever happened to the candidate. >> let's talk about the tone the vice president brought to this tonight. at one point calling congressman ryan's remarks marlakey, various times throwing his arms up in the air being dismissive of what the congressman had to say. as the people are asked over the next couple days how they viewed this debate, is there a danger in the tone that joe

biden took tonight in his aggressiveness against congressman ryan? >> i think he didn't have any alternative. they said do not do what barack obama did. i remember going up to a hotel and the doorman recognizes me, i guess, on tv said when is the president going to wake up? nobody will have any doubt that biden was alive, was alert and had to punch back and have a different type of momentum and could not repeat the kind of performance and this is what they are. they're performances, but the kind of performance that the president had. he mentioned general motors. he mentioned 47%. he mentioned romney's tax responsibility. so i think he made -- yes, it's a gamble to come on that strong, but i think he needed to and had he to and he did well. >> -- he had to and he did well. >> let's talk about paul ryan because he stayed on the message, but did he stay too much on message and not get

into this tit for tat with joe biden? >> i think too many numbers nobody can make sense of and everybody disputes and i thought as the evening went on he kind of receded. he looked younger and less experienced and not ready for primetime. he was respectful and deferential, but he didn't make a mark. >> fox 5 political analyst mark plotkin, thanks for making some analysis. will, they spoke an hour and a half. we'll be speaking about this for the better part of a week until the presidential candidates take their spots next week. >> you've got that right. thank you both. let's continue to zero in on what we heard tonight and the performances. once again fox 5 is teaming up with american university for inside into the race for the white house from students who study the media and politics. we call it campaign youth. on the right of your scene we have lindsay sandoval, doug patch, kate therrity and ryan stanley. guys, tell me you're getting extra credit for this.

no? let's start with the obvious question. who debated better and why? lindsay, why don't we start with you. >> i think we knew that joe biden had a lot of expectations for this debate and i think he articulated how obama and his policies will help the middle class and how they'll defend medicare and social security. >> doug? >> i felt as though joe biden definitely had much more of an emotional appeal, but i think paul ryan was definitely more call and stated the facts much better than joe biden did. >> kate, what do you think? >> i think both spoke to the voters that they needed to speak to and i think that the lasting effect from biden's talking points from what he was saying will be stronger than to rain's. >> ryan? >> i think joe biden absolutely -- ryan's. >> ryan? >> i think joe biden absolutely stole the debate tonight. i think it resonates with middle class families. they like to see somebody is fighting for them. >> by raising your hand, anybody change their mind here? no.

just the head nod. let's talk about something i saw on twitter. joe biden smiles, even some laughter, especially when paul ryan was talking about iran's nuclear capabilities. anybody have a problem with that or felt it was effective? >> i personally thought biden seemed like he was like why am i debating this 40 something -- i don't quite know how old paul ryan is, but he just seemed like this guy is too young. why am i doing this? the reuters or the a. p.m. tweeted a picture that summed -- a.p. tweeted a picture that summed up the debate where biden had his arms like this. i don't think it was very profession. >> anybody disagree with doug? >> i agree. i thought it was distracting. i thought he could have handled things better and responded better. i think his interruptions were terrible. >> ryan? >> i think we saw it was kind of annoying, but we definitely saw through that a new strategy for the obama campaign tonight regardless of what barack obama did in the last presidential

debate. joe biden challenged anything he thought needed to be challenged by paul ryan, interrupting, even challenging martha from apc, the moderator, taking her to task at some points. >> lindsay, you're young, as we can see here. do you think paul ryan's youth works against him or for him? some might say well, it shows that biden is the more experienced person. other people might say hey, ryan is the fresh face, fresh ideas. what do you think? >> i think for the republican party who are kind of struggling to appeal to more diverse demographics, i think it was a bold choice for them and pretty effective, although there are some drifts with ryan, especially his budget because it was so controversial, but overall i thought it infused a lot of energy into this campaign. >> last question, ryan, starting with you on the abortion issue. it got personal. who was most effective? >> i think if we take it and look at a single demographic that's really important to especially the president, the women vote, obama's position on

abortion resonates with the women much more. it's ground he lost in the last debate and i think they regained that ground and i'm glad it was brought up tonight. >> kate? >> i thought it was interesting you had a catholic debating a catholic on abortion and they had completely different views, so i thought it was interesting, but i really thought ryan was well spoken and i don't think everyone expected him to say what he said tonight. >> doug? >> i would completely agree with kate. i felt as though this will definitely help obama with more of the single women vote rather than married women because married women tend to vote more republican than single women, but i would actually say it was a draw. i thought both of them had very good answers. >> lynn, so i you'll finish this off. >> i -- lindsay, you'll finish this off. >> i think joe biden did well showing how his faith has affected his life but he doesn't want to impose that on other people and i think that will be a very resonate message with undecided women voters. >> thank you all for joining us.

as we said, this was the only vice presidential debate. so maybe these opinions are opinions you shared as well, but again the next debate is the presidential debate and that is next tuesday at 9:00 when mitt romney faces off against president obama and you can watch that right here as always on fox 5. brian, over to you. we are following other big stories tonight. a d.c. council member accused of unethical dealings during his time on the metro board, plus a 4-year-old maryland boy falls from a ninth floor apartment window and survives. investigators tell us what may have saved his life. >> later on the news edge an hour of violence at university of maryland, why students were targeted and now you can help police solve the crimes -- how you can help police solve the crimes. lelet me tell you how i will create 12 million jobs

when president obama couldn't. first, my energy independence policy means more than three million new jobs. many of them in manufacturing. my tax reform plan to lower rates for the middle class and for small business creates seven million more. and expanding trade, cracking down on china, and improving job training takes us to over 12 million new jobs.

i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message.

welcome back. told the board that oversees metro -- today the board that oversees metro released a statement slamming a former board member and council member jim graham for mixing business with metro business. fox 5's john henrehan reports

no money changed hand, but the report accuses graham of breaching his duty to serve only metro's interest during a discussion of a real estate deal. >> reporter: after three hours in a closed door executive session the board voted unanimously to publicly release a 62 page report that accuses former metro board member jim graham of undermining the integrity of the process of developing land once owned by the transit system. the land sits just south of florida avenue at eighth street northwest. in addition to his seat on the metro board, graham was and still is a d.c. council member. the report accuses graham of trying to dissuade a potential metro land developer by offering a lucrative deal involving d.c. business. >> council member graham indeed told warren williams of banneker ventures that he would consider supporting the bid of williams' company for the d.c. lottery contract if williams were to withdraw his bid for

the florida avenue project. >> reporter: the report concludes jim graham's conduct "undermined the integrity of the joint development process." asked about the promised lottery deal, jim graham offered this answer. >> i don't have any recollection of that, but if it happened, it was something that i said in a very offhand manner that people kind of glommed onto and carried to the extreme it was carried to. >> reporter: when asked about mixing metro business with city business, graham defended his position. >> i wasn't doing nothing except wanting the best thing for ward 1. >> reporter: councian graham pointed out the report does not conclude that any criminal conduct was involved in his actions on the metro board, but the attorney who investigated the former metro board member did confirm to reporters that at least one law enforcement agency has asked for a copy of the report. john henrehan, fox 5 news.

a 4-year-old boy lucky to be alive tonight after falling from a ninth floor apartment window. it happened at the park montgomery complex in silver spring. police are trying to figure out how it happened. fox 5's audrey barnes has this story. >> reporter: the screen on this ninth floor window gave way sending a 4-year-old boy tumbling some 90 feet to the ground. instead of slamming into the industrial sized air conditioning units below, this tree broke his fall. aresa saw whose face we're concealing came by as it happened. >> i saw the child lying right over there. >> reporter: was he crying? >> yeah, he were crying. >> reporter: a neighbor called 911 and the little boy was rushed to a local trauma center with serious injuries. incredibly police say he was conscious and talking and even asked when he could go home. before that happens investigators have some questions for his mother like was anyone watching him or was he home alone? annie washington says she knows

the mom needed daycare. >> about two nights ago she asked me, you know, would i watch the baby for her and she said she would get back with me on that, you know. so i never did see her, but when i came down today, this is what i seen, her baby, you know, laying on the ground. >> reporter: do you think he was left home alone? >> i don't know. i don't know. >> reporter: washington who lived in the building 22 years says this accident is a wakeup call. >> because kids are very inquisitive. they want to know what's this, what's that, you know. those are children. u have to watch children. >> reporter: audrey barnes, fox 5 news. montgomery county family crimes investigators are working the case trying to determine the circumstances that led to the child's fall. two months after a violent beating on capitol hill allying together to support the victim t.c. maslin. during a press conference today community leaders announced a fundraiser and festival to benefit the maslin family. the first ward 6 fall safety festival will be held sunday,

october 21st educating people about crime and safety issues and raise money for the maslin family trust. so far more than $10,000 has been donated. new questions about the company at the center of the deadly meningitis outbreak. >> and later new details about what led to the death of the little panda cub at national zoo and what does the future hold for the cub's parents? stay close. [ male announcer ] citibank's app for ipad

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the nationwide meningitis outbreak linked to tainted steroid shots is spreading. idaho is now the 11th state to report at least one illness and according to the cdc, the number of cases has jumped to at least 170, up from 137 just a day earlier. 14 people have died including one in maryland and one in virginia. the contaminated shots came from a specialty pharmacy in massachusetts. state leaders are looking into whether that company violated its license. >> what they were doing instead

is making big batches and selling them out of state as a manufacturer would. >> the company issued a voluntary recall of the medication while the fda and the cdc look into what happened. up next the national zoo reveals new details about what led to the death of a giant panda cub. >> also ahead. >> reporter: this chair is destroyed. the 1 right next to it, still in pretty good shape. this is the inside of a church. i'm beth parker. i'll tell you about what they know about what happened. ohoh, please don't call me "pumpkin." pumpkin. ha ha! you've never tasted pumpkin like this. try new pumpkin white chocolate or pumpkin mocha coffees and lattes today.

a family can make... realizing a nursing home is the only choice. for many middle class families, medicaid is the only way to afford the care. but as a governor, mitt romney raised nursing home fees eight times. and as president, his budget cuts medicaid by one-third and burdens families with the cost of nursing home care. we have a president who won't let that happen. [ obama ] i'm barack obama and i approved this message. when president obama couldn't. first, my energy independence policy means more than three million new jobs. many of them in manufacturing. my tax reform plan to lower rates for the middle class and for small business creates seven million more. and expanding trade, cracking down on china, and improving job training takes us to over 12 million new jobs. i'm mitt romney, and i approve this message.

♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] combine the pnc cashbuilder visa credit card with a qualifying pnc performance select checking account and earn 75% more than cards earning 1% cash back on almost everything. this is fox 5 news at 10:00. we now know what caused the death of a giant panda cub at the national zoo. a liver cub is the problem that caused the 6-day-old cub to die. >> reporter: mei xiang was romping in her outdoor playpen resting and sung herself as zoo officials and an -- sunning

herself as zoo officials and veterinarians discussed the reason her cub died, not enough oxygen getting to the liver they said because the lungs were not fully formed. can't y for sure, but the cub might have been premature. mom seems to be getting back to normal. >> she's started eating at about 80% of her bamboo. >> reporter: she lost weight, down to about 220 pounds from 240, but her birthing history, five failed pregnancies, the birth of tai shan in 2005 followed by the death of the latest female cub has given zoo officials pause for reflection. >> there is no decision about the future of mei and tian, whether they will leave or remain. >> reporter: but according to the existing five-year agreement there is the possibility of a swap with one or two breeding pandas in china. the panda public would miss mei if she went away, but

zookeepers say it's a little early for talk like that, especially when the giant panda might be in the late stages of grieving. >> we all saw behavior changes at the very beginning once the cub died, but i have a hard time attributing it to grieving. >> reporter: well, she wasn't grieving, then what was it? >> we saw a little searching behavior in the nest even though she was present when the cub was removed from the den. >> reporter: she stopped the cradling behavior and her keepers have taken the toys she was holding like a baby, but the past is the past. tian tian, the father is said to be okay. zoo visitors are hopeful. >> it's too bad. they successfully had one. it happens. hopefully they can have another. >> reporter: by the way, the panda house has been reopened if you want to see mei xiang and tian tian. they're usually outdoors in the morning and indoors by midafternoon. at the national zoo, karen gray houston, fox 5 news. a baltimore family is reeling tonight after a deadly

fire swept through their row house. the baltimore sun reports 55- year-old nancy worrell was killed with her four children. the fire broke out early this morning. when firefighters arrived, they found smoke and fire pouring out of the first floor of the home, but they quickly spread to the second floor and the attic. >> it's terrible. >> it hurt right here. it hurt. it really hurts. it's not easy. >> all five victims wee found on the second floor. three other people in the house escaped the flames including a 2-month-old baby. two firefighters were hurt, but their injuries were not serious. we still don't know what caused the fire. investigators are also trying to figure out who set fire to a church in maryland. it happened early yesterday morning in potomac heights. fox 5's beth parker has the story. >> reporter: now it appears that whoever lit this fire never even set foot inside the

church, just came right up to this window. >> they stuck their hand in. you can see where the pattern for the accelerant that they sprayed and there's also patterns on the chairs. >> reporter: you can still see the bench frame where the window was kicked in here at potomac heights baptist church in indian head, maryland. pastor brian sandifer got the call very early wednesday morning and raced to the church. >> smoke was everywhere. >> reporter: but the fire was isolated to a fairly small area. >> by the grace of god it didn't catch the wooden rafters we have up top. had it gotten into the wooden rafters, we could have lost the entire building. >> reporter: today next to the crisp white steeple there are green clean-up trucks. there is a layer of black soot everywhere. every surface of the building has to be scrubbed. >> the walls, creels, you name it, everything. >> reporter: they -- ceilings, you name it, everything. >> reporter: they are also wiping away some of the anger. >> one of the ways we need to process this is this is our

building where we meet, but the people are the church. >> reporter: a state fire marshal is investigating. >> no clue at all. we haven't received any threats, nobody disgruntled with the church that i'm aware of. >> reporter: the pastor thinks it may be something as simple as a teenage prank. >> just love to talk to them, don't have any anger toward the person particularly, but i'd love to sit down and talk with that individual and find out why they did what they did. >> reporter: what happened in the chapel won't disrupt sunday services all that much because they have more space. they actually worship in the building next-door. you can bet that at this sunday's service they'll be saying an extra prayer of forgiveness. in indian head, maryland, beth parker, fox 5 news. we're still 25 days away from the presidential election, but already metro is looking ahead to the inauguration. remember the record setting crowds back in 2008? who can forget? metro says it has a plan in place now. we'll break it down as we continue. 

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monitoring metro, the presidential inauguration is about three months away and today the metro board was briefed how the transit agency plans to handle what's expected to be another huge crowd. back in 2009 more than 1.5 million bus and rail trips were taken. metro officials say they don't believe next year's inaugural will be as crowded, but they'll be ready just in case. metro plans to start running trains at 4 a.m. >> well, we think that folks like to get good position for parades and we know that they come out the night before and want to get that parking space and get on the train and get downtown. >> january 20th falls on a sunday next year and that

should help keep the crowds down. one major change, metro says if you park at a metro lot, you'll have to take on your way out. four years ago the money was collected on the way in and that caused long lines and blocked traffic in some places. tonight vice president joe biden had a battle of words with a man who wants his job. so who won tonight's debate? analysts on both sides weigh in coming up on the news edge. >> it will cost you more to send a letter, details of the new postage rate hike coming up.

the future of the university of the district of columbia brought a huge crowd to the wilson building this season. taking center stage, a plan to get the school back on strong financial footing. on the chopping block, jobs and even a campus site. fox 5's matt ackland has this story. >> reporter: a packed council chamber, students, professors and sitting in the front row

udc's president allen sessoms. >> unfortunately the university is currently in a financially untenable position. it is undercapitalized, spending down its general fund to close budget gaps. >> reporter: the board of trustees proposed a number of ideas that have upset some from job cuts to closing the udc community college campus on north capitol, moving that campus to udc's main campus on connecticut avenue. it could save more than $5 million a year. >> udc should be right sized, but the community college should be left alone. >> reporter: one of the first speakers focused his comments directly at the leader of the university even speaking about issues fox 5 uncovered last year when it comes to expensive travel by dr. sessoms. >> dr. sessoms who was famous for taking lavish trips with his wife overseas first class spending recklessly taxpayers' money like he was the president of the united states did not want anything to do with the

community college. >> reporter: some believe udc faculty and staff are making too much money. council member michael brown compared udc to other universities. >> udc pays its faculty and staff substantially more than the salaries of its peer universities with an overall average of 33% higher than the median range. >> reporter: those on staff begged the council for more support saying udc is moving in the right direction. >> we need your support, financial and otherwise, to be successful. thank you. >> reporter: that financial support that udc needs does not come cheap. the university is asking for $21 million to get this right sizing project started, $10 million of that used in employee separation costs. in the district matt ackland, fox 5 news. a hometown hero returns to prince george's county. olympic medalist and world champion boxer sugar ray leonard unveiled plans to expand his boxing center in the palmer park community. leonard says his plan is to

build a partnership between the county and the naacp to offer families a place to go to perform community services, get tutoring, mentoring and life skill training. leonard says it will also focus on combating childhood obesity and bullying. >> to work together as family, as community, to stop bullying. that's not right. that is not right. and i'm for one will lend my name, my image, whatever it takes to stop that. >> prince george's county police awarded leonard with an honorary police badge for his work with the box centering and spearheading the partnership with the naacp. >> so great to see him back in the community. >> if is great, one of these guys who has had fame forever and really kept his nose clean. >> giving back to his home. >> welcome back to your studio home. you cleaned up pretty well, my friend.

>> thank you. i had a great moment at the game watching jayson werth. i hadn't been taking many pictures. i'm not a particularly good photographer, but i got this sense when he was up for that 13th hit, i said this is going to be it. i grabbed my phone, aimed it and got a picture of him hitting his home run. we saved it. there it is. >> it's a good one. >> all i did was go i got the photo! >> you sure that's not a piece of ab tract art from your living room. >> -- abstract art from your living room. >> there goes my extra income from ebay. we have circled jayson werth there. it was all zoomed in. i didn't watch him run because i was so excited about my home run winning photo that i got. oh, well. the iphone doesn't help everybody. let's talk about the next two days. we've got a beautiful day on tap tomorrow, another real sunny day. we've got another frontal boundary that will come through, about 66 degrees for the high temperature, but tomorrow night it will be cold for that